My WIRL 2008 cars

[cycrunner]

Here are the 9 cars I raced and showed in 2008:

[the woodbutcher]

Great job with the cars. Nice variety.
Where did you come up with the guitar ? It looks great ! I am planning to build a banjo car for next years local Awana race (don't tell anyone ) I'm going to do it similar except not use an undercarriage like yours. Just in the drawing stages, but the neck is going to be real thin to be more authentic looking. I may laminate some aluminum or maple into the middle.
Golden rod has some terrific curves on it.
Lucky dollar - is that purple heart glued into the middle ? Great use of the different textures of the wood.
Those look like real teeth on the hammer head.

[khouse]

Very nice! Did you cut the wheels on a mini cnc mill? Those wheels are killer!

[cycrunner]

Here is some detail on my WIRL 2008 cars:
The "Guitar" on Music on Wheels is really a scaled down version of my Martin Ukulele. It is made of Myrtlewood and Purple Heart. Strings are monofilament fish line. The frets and tuning knobs are cut and machined brass rod. It is mounted on a tungsten filled piece of Myrtlewood.
The teeth on Hammerhead are cut from heavy photo paper and then glued to a fine wire and bent to hold the shape, then glued in place.
Lucky Dollar is also made from Myrtlewood and Purple heart. That is a real "Dollar".
I machined my wheels on a rotary table I designed and built for use on my Shopsmith. I laid out the slot design on a ten to one scale and transfered the necessary angles to my rotary table mounted on the Shopsmith. I used a .250 dia. end mill. I drilled the holes afterwards, deburred, then balanced each wheel to compensate for machining tolerances. A CNC mill would be great but I don't have one. I can do just fine with my setup as long as I don't have to make production runs.
For Goldenrod I used a lot of the compound called "Fixall" It is a powder you mix with water and form as desired. It is non-toxic and dries hard. It is easy to drill, cut an sand. I also use a lot of heavy build auto primer prior to painting.

[cycrunner]

I am sending Goldenrod and a new car called "Dragnaught" for the April 18 WIRL modified race.

[dstory]

I love the variety and the creativity. Way to go!

Don
ShapeNRace.com